Saturday, December 17, 2016

Celia Binder

Daydreams II

60x80"

Cyanotype, Cotton Fabric,

Grommets, Fishing Line

Daydreams II continues to recall the feelings one has while looking up at the cloud on a summer's day. This installation celebrates the act of finding shapes in the clouds, while relaxing on one's back. A manifestation of antique photography methods, I choose to experiment with the creation of the camera-less image. Cyanotype photograms become traces of the sun, left behind in vaguely figurative cyan images. Blotches of pigment on wall hangings recall to mind the shape and feel of a Rorschach ink-blot, inviting the viewer to again find their own images in the shades of blue. Dimly lit in a warm glow, this installation is a calming experience for all.

Friday, December 16, 2016

This piece was meant to be a more gestural figure trying to escape the more literal feeling I felt like I was getting to. In creating the figure with shapes as you move around it you start to lose and gain information of the figure.

This piece was meant to be a more gestural figure trying to escape the more literal feeling I felt like I was getting to. In creating the figure with shapes as you move around it you start to lose and gain information of the figure.

This piece was an experiment in mixing mediums. I wanted pieces of the body to be reaching out of the planes of wood, hanging at the level they'd be on the body. I think I gathered a nice sense of discomfort as you interact with each individual piece walking down the line of objects.

Wanting to do something completely different from my first two pieces, I wanted my final piece to be more of an experience than an a tangible item. I drew the concept's inspiration from rotating night lights, and the calming effect they have. After creating my designs, I experimented a lot with different lighting techniques that would help give the space the illusion I was trying to portray. I liked using multi-colored string lights better than any individual light source because it added complexity to the designs as each of them were projected in many different colors.

Following my first piece, I wanted to head into a different direction and use a medium that allowed for more movement. I began with the idea that I wanted to do an interactive type of piece of the floor, that observers could go up to and move. Due to the mediums I used, and the inconsistency in exact uniformity between the wooden blocks, I ended up having to alter my design at the last minute. I spent hours rearranging the layout of the blocks to see how it worked best, and as much as I wanted to get away from making a wall piece in my original concept, placing it on the wall gave it a new depth.

This piece was about exploring and becoming more comfortable with the process of welding steel for me. I wanted to give myself a challenge by taking on a project that forced me to become resourceful with my welding techniques. My asthetic is very clean and geometric, so by cutting all of these small pieces of steel, I was able to play around with the layout of my design a lot before I decided on how I wanted my pieces to interact with each other. I went with a shape that mimicked a snowflake, because I thought the harsh lines of the steel complemented each other the best in a circular pattern.

Cast iron bathtub, gifted
underwear, water, soap, towels, and bathmatViolations is a small instillation in which I asked eight of my friends who
have been victims/survivors of rape, sexual assault, and abuse to give me their
underwear. Its interest is to highlight the cleansing process that often
happens after an assault- how women often take multiple showers or baths in
order to feel clean again after the fact, or the feeling of being dirty and
trying to soak to get away from yourself. What does this cleansing mean in
getting relationship to letting go of something through getting rid of a pair
of underwear. What does it feel like to have the same intimate garment (underwear) that is personal and private, that is also linked to how one was
violated in some way, to be used in relationship with other women who have
experienced similar things? The women noted this experience as empowering,
important, scary and intimate.

Monday, December 12, 2016

I made Twenty Vs. Eighty because I have always wondered how consumer products are made. The work is a Memento mori on products, but instead says, “remember you’re a material.” This was inspired by the idea that when we go see a theatrical performance we only see abut twenty percent of what goes into making a production; the other eighty percent is goes on “behind stage,” such as stage management, changing rooms, prop and set shops, storage buildings, and weeks of rehearsal - all organized for consumerism. I made an art piece that walks the line from raw material to manufactured furniture. I used “found” wood from old furniture to build a structure and left the back of the piece “raw” so audiences could see the effort that went into making the piece. I believe it is important for people to be challenged by the fact that consumer products come from a source that is raw material.

This piece began as something completely different than what it became. The original idea was to create a large pop-up book, which was sparked by my interest and part-time job in repairing and binding books. Under the pressure of time constraints and dissatisfaction with what my original idea was shaping up to be, I made a choice to change the concept for my piece into something that speaks more to my sense of humor, which is dry, and my personal aesthetic, which is magical, sparkly, and fairy-like (or, it would be, if I had more money to buy a sparkly and magical wardrobe). The Island of Misfit Socks is an amalgamation of my love for twinkling lights, my homeless and mismatched socks, and inspirations drawn from copyrighted, made-for-TV Christmas movies from the 1960's. I am much more satisfied with the results I achieved than I would have been if I had stuck with my original idea.

The act of being pulled in many different directions can take form in both emotional, physical and mental ways. Sometimes an individual feels taken advantage of, powerless and caught in a web of manipulation. However, sometimes the struggle to move or manipulate something or someone occurs between a pair of individuals. What does this process look like in the end? Does it ever result in success? Or is the manipulated person/thing going to be eternally held in suspense?